In a significant move, military leaders have issued directives for the National Guard across all states to establish a “quick reaction force” of troops specially trained to handle civil unrest and riots. These forces must be prepared to mobilize within hours, reflecting the Trump administration’s ongoing strategy to swiftly deploy military personnel on American soil.

Recently circulated memos mandate that National Guard units from every state and U.S. territory, with the exception of the District of Columbia, undergo specialized training. This program covers the effective use of equipment such as batons, body shields, stun guns, and pepper spray, ensuring these troops are equipped to manage civil disturbances efficiently.

This initiative aligns with President Donald Trump’s broader agenda to enhance the military’s role in addressing illegal immigration and crime. The president has been proactive in deploying the National Guard to urban areas, often clashing with the views of Democratic leaders at the local level.

These memos, first highlighted by The Guardian, follow an executive order signed by Trump in August. This order tasked the Pentagon with creating quick reaction forces capable of rapid deployment across the nation. Although the Pentagon has yet to comment on these memos, they cite the executive order as a foundational authority for this directive.

Historically, the National Guard has maintained units ready for immediate action, primarily to address natural disasters. However, this marks a shift towards specialized training focused on civil unrest, reflecting a new chapter in the Guard’s operational readiness.

The new, specialized quick reaction forces will be able to deploy a fourth of all their troops within eight hours and all of those assigned to the units within a day, according to the memo.

During a roundtable at the White House last week with homeland security officials, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was asked about a memo detailing similar plans. Hegseth said he would not comment on the “particulars” but went on to say that there were “multiple layers of National Guard response forces.”

“We’ve got a lot of different ways that, constitutionally and legally, we can employ” Guard troops, and “we will do so when necessary,” Hegseth said.

While Trump has sent the National Guard into cities including Los Angeles and D.C., his efforts to deploy troops in other places have faced swift legal challenges. The Trump administration is blocked from sending troops into the Chicago area until at least the latter half of November, following a U.S. Supreme Court order calling on the sides to file additional legal briefs. And a federal trial seeking to block a troop deployment in Portland, Oregon, got underway this week.

The memos, which were sent out to the states early this month, mandate that each state and territory have its quick reaction forces operational by Jan. 1, 2026. To help with that goal, units will be provided 100 sets of crowd control equipment as well as two full-time trainers by the National Guard Bureau.

The units also will be allowed to use an additional five days of training for soldiers to get through the “Interservice Nonlethal Individual Weapons Instructor Course.”

According to one of the memos, the initial portion of the course includes topics like “crowd management techniques,” “domestic civil disturbance training,” and “proper use of baton and body shields.” The intermediate portion focuses on the use of non-lethal weapons like Tasers and pepper spray.

Each National Guard unit is required to update military leaders monthly on its progress in meeting this new mandate.